Ben Affleck’s axed Batman movie would’ve been “f***king awesome”

The DC Universe is undergoing a bit of a rebuild right now. New bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran are slowly getting rid of the old, including Henry Cavill’s Superman, to usher in the new. Various projects have been left behind, including a solo Batman movie starring Ben Affleck. In a recent interview, DC storyboard artist Jay Oliva revealed what that would’ve looked like.

Ben Affleck’s tenure as the Caped Crusader fell somewhat flat. Sure, his super powerful incarnation of the hero was occasionally a joy to watch, especially when going toe-to-toe with the likes of Superman. He co-headlined Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice before appearing in Justice League. He’d also made cameo appearances in Suicide Squad and The Flash.

All things considered, Affleck’s Batman always felt a little undercooked, at least compared to Christian Bale’s version. No doubt a solo outing would’ve been immensely beneficial in developing his character, and there was one in the works… but it was ultimately axed.

Ben Affleck’s Batman movie “was gonna cover something that had never really been covered in comics”

“I’ve worked on a lot of Batman things and what was really cool about it was, it was tying together a lot of really cool Batman storylines that had never been really explored,” Oliva told Inverse. He went on to explain how Affleck’s movie would’ve explored the furthest reaches of the Batman mythos. “Ben’s story was gonna cover something that had never really been covered in comics. But was building off of storylines in the Batman mythos over the last 80 years and approaching it from a new kind of perspective.”

"It was very clever and there were a lot of things about it that I really loved that I wish had come to fruition. It was a really great project in the beginning. Ben had to step away for personal reasons, and I totally understood, but the time that I spent with Ben working on the project was fantastic."

Oliva can’t say much more about what could’ve been. “I can’t really say too much other than it was fucking awesome,” he concluded. “It was the best. It was amazing.”

Affleck was super passionate about the movie, even planning to direct the picture himself. When the project was axed, it paved the way for Matt Reeves to create The Batman starring Robert Pattinson, so at least we got something good in the end, but we’ll always wonder about what could’ve been.

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